


Since when does a second chance trump Everything?

by Quantum_Spin



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-24
Updated: 2014-06-20
Packaged: 2018-01-26 08:59:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1682510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quantum_Spin/pseuds/Quantum_Spin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wherein Emma refuses to run, Regina is in denial, and Robin might just have the potential to stop the inevitable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Once Upon a Time does not belong to me

Emma tightly gripped the railing, inhaling deeply the salty mist that surrounded the pier that day. She could not understand what it was that was residing in the pit of her stomach, the thing that was making it clench in dread and twist with a nausea that currently robbed her of the capability of thinking.

No, in that instant… she could only feel. She could feel the fine hairs on her arms rise as a cold breeze lazily flew by her, blowing her blonde tresses around her tear streaked face. It was much like the shivers she felt when she witnessed Robin and Regina kiss near the room she was renting at Granny’s B&B where Henry was blissfully playing his video games. It was the kind that left you feeling cold and empty with dread, mercilessly churning your insides until you cannot tell what that lump in your throat is – your heart or your guts.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Swan?” she hissed at herself, pawing away at the tears that were now falling freely from her eyes.

She knew the answer. How could she not?

When she regained her memories, the first thought was Regina.

God, Regina.

Regina _bloody_ Mills, the woman who raised _their_ son into a beautiful young man before he decided to be a brat and throw everything at her face for being someone she had not been in twenty eight years – now thirty one.  Regina _damn_ Mills, the one who taught Emma to curb her crude language, eat better, and enjoy life more despite having the title of ‘Savior’ tacked onto her forehead as if Storybrooke’s citizens were entitled to a piece of her. Regina _fucking_ Mills, the beyond beautiful woman, who gave Emma her memories of Henry when she sent both mother and son away to their happy ending in New York because she had to have felt something for the blonde even if it was just a sliver even if she reasoned that it was solely for Henry.

Only it was not really a true happy ending because while two thirds of the equation did enjoy a comfortable life, one third of it was suffering in an entirely different realm where she apparently already had a soul mate. A soul mate that Regina decided would make her happy because God knows that she had been unhappy for some time now.

Emma simply did not realize it until she actually witnessed the brunette lock lips with that _stupid_ crossbow-wieldingthief with blond hair and an adorable son.

“I’m a weapon-wielding thief with blond hair and a handsome son,” Emma bitterly threw to the wind. Now if only her words were carried to the one who was being familiar with a man anyone barely knew.

The thing about wishes and magic is that they do tend to come true especially if it happens to be a certain Savior, born of True Love. That should have been evident from the way a certain Mayor was quickly making her way toward Emma with a stoic expression on her face. The only thing that gave anything away was the subtle tremble of her plump lipstick colored lips.

And quite frankly? It was enough.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma just cannot get a break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Once Upon a Time does not belong to me.

A prickling sensation traveled down Emma’s spine, fine blond hairs further standing to attention on her cold skin. It alerted her to the presence of the one person who could incite such a reaction from her body albeit involuntary. The tear streaks on her face had dried and her eyes were a sharp shade of green as she attempted to school her features before engaging in a conversation that would undoubtedly shake her further.

“Regina,” she acknowledged in between gritted teeth as the brunette quietly invaded the Savior’s bubble of solitude.

“Emma,” she breathed softly. It was perhaps the softest tone Emma had ever received from her and it brought a fresh wave of tears to the surface. Refusing defeat, her hands form fists at her sides. They were tight enough to cause Emma’s trimmed fingernails to break skin, making her wince.

“What can I do for you today, Madam Mayor?”

Regina visibly flinched at the icy tone the question was delivered in.

“You called for me, Emma,” the blonde’s name rolling off her tongue like a wave of tranquility after a storm. Only as the saying goes, it’s the “calm before the storm”.

Emma started at this, her eyes darting between Regina and the open sea as if judging whether or not to believe her.

“No, I didn’t,” she sighed.

Regina placed her hand next to Emma, ignoring her stiffening posture, with her palm facing upward. The request was apparent and Emma appraised it at first, torn between running away or staying and melding their hands together. The instances in which they touched were ever only out of the need to do so. This, right here, was _want_ and it scared Emma more than anything especially when the gesture was coupled with the kind of openness you would not expect from a former Evil Queen.

“Trust me,” Regina implored her, echoing the words Emma sent her way before once again meeting the son that did not remember her.

Emma closed her eyes and gingerly placed her hand on top of Regina’s, shaking at the freezing electricity that travelled up her arm and spread like fire throughout her entire body before searing her brain with the images of her catching Regina and Robin kiss. Emotions accompanied those pictures, only with a vengeance that seemingly doubled. Green eyes flew wide open at the recognition that Regina was showing her the projection of Emma’s feelings in that moment.

“What the hell?” Emma gasped, swiftly snatching her hand away from the Mayor’s grasp.

Silence stretched between the two mothers as their eyes bore into the other’s soul, watching vulnerability and insecurity play across their features before determination finally triumphed on one.

“You called for me, Emma,” Regina reiterated, her voice tinged with a rough edge that promised passion.

Emma shook her head, refusing to believe that the woman before her actually listened to the desperate cry of her magic for reprieve. Just as Regina thought that Emma would finally let her past the fortified walls around her heart, the blonde took a step back and gave a faint nod toward something behind her.

“Robin is waiting for you.”

With that, she turned away with a drag in her footsteps that screamed of resignation and acceptance that today was simply not the day she would fight for what she truly wanted.

It left a bitter taste in both parties’ mouths but what can either do when a second chance was waiting to be explored in the wings?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma is home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Once Upon a Time does not belong to me.

Emma shivered, soaked to the bone. Apparently, monsoon seasons now existed in Storybrooke. Peeling away blonde tendrils away from her face in itself was a chore. Her ruined knee high black leather boots made squishy noises on the stairs she climbed to get to her room. She huffed and puffed as she attempted to remove the red leather jacket that was currently stuck to her body like a second skin, almost tripping over the last flight of stairs amidst her trouble.

“Ever so elegant, you are,” sounded the deep voice of the Mayor.

Of course, that was when Emma chose to face plant onto the ground. At least her jacket came free.

“What are you doing here?” she groaned, rolling over and staring at the mottled ceiling.

Her line of sight was soon blocked by the face of the woman who had been plaguing her mind since they first met, not that she would ever admit to it. Regina smirked as Emma visibly gulped, her splayed fingers across her abdomen lightly twitching.

“You have been avoiding me.”

Emma released a long, steady breath and moved to stand up. When she turned to face Regina, she was startled to find the brunette only centimeters away from her. Emma’s reaction would have gotten her killed had Regina not instinctively reacted and pulled her flush against herself, stopping her from completely falling down the stairs.

“You really do need to be more careful, Miss Swan,” was murmured against the shell of her ear.

Emma shivered and it had nothing to do with how soaked she was – or maybe it did. It was difficult to ignore the warmth radiating off of Regina and especially how close together their bodies were. In that moment, Emma made a number of observations.

One, Regina’s curves seamlessly melded with hers like two jigsaw pieces that were made specifically to complete each other.

Two, Regina had still not yet moved away. In fact, Emma was quite certain that she had been drawn in closer. Was that even possible?

Three, Regina’s hands were slowly making their way down from her waist to her hips to – oh. Did she really just squeeze her ass cheeks? Emma blinked, her lips slightly parted, at this revelation.

“Emma,” Regina husked out, moving away from the stairs and pulling the blonde, who was still in her hold, along with her.

When her back hit the wall of the hallway, Emma broke away from her and regarded her with a guarded but incredulous expression on her face. It did not take long for the Mayor to realize why given that green eyes were focused somewhere further down south.

The silk blouse she wore, once borrowed by the woman before her, was straining against hardened nipples. The current dampness did nothing to help her case. A blush fully bloomed across olive cheeks.

“Can we talk?” the brunette shyly asked. Her eyes were open and vulnerable, imploring Emma to give her a chance instead of running away again.

“Is that what you would really prefer to do?” Emma sassed, lips upturned in a half-grin that made Regina question her sanity on going to see Emma on her own.

Before a reply could even be given, the melody of Canon D Major broke through. With an apologetic glance that was met with a rolling of eyes, Regina fished through her purse for the ringing device. Neither the sudden stiffness that locked her back and shoulders in place nor the crinkle of her eyebrows into a frown went unnoticed.

“What is it?” Emma gently asked.

“Robin.”

The name was enough to cause Emma to clench her jaw and her hands to form fists.

“You should go,” the Savior gruffly said, making a move to walk the four steps to her room, open the door, and… whatever.

“Emma, I –

Regina found her hand, which had reached to touch Emma’s shoulder, shrugged off. Not deterred, she tried again.

“Emma, please.”

The pleading tone, alien to both their ears, made Emma falter but it did not stop the glare that pinned Regina to the wall. If anything, it nailed her there. The glare was filled with loathing, anger, and utter hatred. The worst part was that Regina knew that those feelings were not directed towards her but to the current owner of those treacherous emotions that transformed the confident Savior into something else – something unbearable to see, that even Regina would not wish it upon Snow White.

“I am drenched, exhausted, and absolutely in no need of this,” Emma ground out, gesticulating to the distance she put in between them.

“Go home, Madam Mayor. Go home to your family.”

The finality was not something Regina could insist to resist. With a curt nod, she began to descend the flight of stairs she watched Emma ascend as she struggled to remove her jacket. The sight of lean muscles made her mouth water but now, they were nothing but dry – dry with dissatisfaction and emptiness mingled with hurt at how easily she had been dismissed by the woman she knew harbored feelings for her. They were the very feelings that she herself had attempted to tamper down in the beginning, believing that she was setting herself up for misery.

If only she had been more courageous. If only she had had more time. If only.

When the Evil Queen reached the bottom of the stairs, that part of her was nowhere in sight. In place was the woman that only Emma had seen since they first crossed paths – Regina.

Shoulders hunched, face crestfallen, lip quivering Regina.

The unmistakable sound of knuckled flesh impacting against a hard surface resounded in her ears and she squeezed her eyes shut.

“Oh, Emma,” she brokenly whispered into the silence that then followed.

Gazing upward for a few beats, she almost cringed at the hope she had that maybe Emma would rush down to her. Sighing, she finally moved towards the exit and made her way back to her mansion.

The truth was that when she had been holding a freezing Emma in her arms, the smell of rain, sweat, and cinnamon that emanated from the blonde had made her feel like she was _home._

Emma smelled and felt like home.

No. She was home.

And Regina could not even stay in it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the much tardy update. Life happened.
> 
> Anyhow, do leave a feedback of sorts if it is not too much trouble.

**Author's Note:**

> Yay or Nay? Do tell.


End file.
